mvp 78

He played a bit of SS in Spring Training. He should have been playing SS in AAA if they really saw him as the first man up.

It's hard to split out the blame pie, but I think the coaching needs to be talked about more. We beat up on the players and Bloom, but it's not just how Cora sets up the lineup... What has Dave Bush done to keep his job. This pitching staff has been downright horrible. What Brasier did on Opening Day was embarrassing. It showed a complete lack of foresight by the coaching staff. What pitchers have exceeded their expectations? Whitlock didn't become a better pitcher because of Bush, but because Andriese taught him a new changeup grip. Winckowski's stuff has "played up" in the pen this year as some people projected it would last season. Hard to put that on Bush. Every other pitcher is either pitching to their level or further below it. Hitting wise, the players have sucked. Defense wise, the players have sucked. Part of that is roster construction, but part of that is how they have been coached day in and day out and series to series. If they fired each coach on the MLB squad, who would we be worried about losing?

I was rounding down!

The Nats traded Juan Soto because of how terrible he was.

You can provide a foundation for future seasons, without putting garbage on the field in the meantime.

You RAILED against VAZ for years about him being a bad catcher by comparing his CERA against other Sox catchers. He goes to HOU and MN and all of a sudden he's a CERA superstar? Do you see the problem here?

In order: 1. Henry 40% owns the checkbook, he set the initial limitations the put them on the downward spiral 2. Bloom 30% no plan up the middle or for starting rotation, messed up trading deadline last season 3. Coaching 20% got caught with pants down in O's series, fire Dave Bush, players do not seem prepared ever 4. Players 9% small sample size, but you still at least have to show up and compete 5. Youk 1% he's terrible

No, because CERA is a nonsense stat and the sample size is extraordinarily small anyway.

IDK, I just don't see it with Murphy. Why was he protected on the 40 man? No way is he better than Thaddeus Ward.

Lawsuit if an overserved patron kills someone. Get that cash tho.

To be fair, he mentioned letting JBJ and Vaz go, not letting Betts and Bogey go. There's a big difference between keeping those tiers of players. I've been out on Henry ever since they let Mookie go. Not extending Bogey after 2021 was a HUGE mistake. If the FO has a plan, it's not obvious what it is.

If the worst thing they did was leave Devers hitting 3rd, I think everything would be fine. That's basically shopping for a new house and complaining about the color of the bathroom walls.

It's why I was flabbergasted when I saw it in Spring Training. It made little sense then. RF? LF? Ok. SS? No. Bloom just had no clue on how to fill the gaping holes up the middle. Starting rotation? What's that?

You see, there's a budget he has to manage to, PLUS we don't want to have worry about another cliff!

It makes no sense to trade Devers AFTER signing him to the big contract. He has way less trade value now.

I didn't say he was a good CFer. His injury wasn't caused by him playing out of position though.

His arm was a known issue...

To be fair, Bloom added Schwarber and Renfroe, but just let them leave. Duvall looked like he could have replaced Renfroe's production. Duvall didn't get injured because he was out of position. He could have been hurt running in on that same ball in LF or RF. He's a former GG winner. He's not some schlub. It's not like he was injured playing 3B or something.

Less than 100 PA's in that sample size. Last year in AAA: LHP: 967 OPS RHP: 798 OPS

I'd rather have McGuire, Anthony and Crawford than Houck.

I think EVERYONE wanted a SS. Kiké wasn't the ideal option. As a fallback plan during the season, it's ok, but not going into it.

In 2020, NESN went out of their way to talk up Springs as a late inning arm and potential closer. The Sox liked his spin rate and whiff %. I'm still surprised that they gave up on him, but stuck with some of the junk they kept around early on in 2021.

I'm glad you can admit when you're wrong about something.

There's been a lot. He makes some good choices, follows it up with a bad choice, then gets shown up a year later. Picks up Springs and then trades him to the Rays. Yikes. Picks up Martin Perez and then lets him go to the Rangers. Attempts (?) to re-sign Xander, but signs Story instead. Xander leaves for the Padres. Story gets injured. Xander hits lots of dingers. Yikes. Trades Vaz to HOU. Vaz wins a ring. Vaz wants to re-sign with the Sox. Bloom says no. Vaz is currently catching a great staff in MN. To fill (?) the hole at SS, Bloom puts Kiké there and signs Duvall (primarily a RFer) to play CF. Duvall gets injured. There is no depth up the middle. Signs oft-injured Paxton for 2 years. Paxton stays injured. Bloom gets his pants pulled down in the Rule 5 draft. Calls up Dalbec to play SS (?) because he can probably fake it. He boots the first ball. He just makes the weirdest most daft decisions. I said he'll probably get fired at the Memorial Day BBQ. We'll see.

Yeah, can't get any ballgames when you get near the beach. If my office was directly across from the beach, I certainly wouldn't be able to follow the Sox anymore. Enjoy your break. If the Sox go on a streak while your gone, mojo says you can't come back.